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The Master and Margarita (2024)
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Film
- Hits: 215
Now, the one good thing about facebook - and - not a good thing particularly, it just means I'm too much there. But there was a clip with an AI narration, interesting, and I recognized the plot points as being from "The Master and Margarita" by Mikhail Bulgakov.
A favourite book of mine.
SO, a fair bit of digging and I found a place to download the movie - the 2024 edition, in Russian/German and searched a dozen other sites and tried a variety of subtitles before I found one that was any good and synced with the movie.
And watched it, of course. I've not had a lot of luck with movies lately, tried some early 2000's horror, was pretty lame, bailed on it, another horror - "Late Night with the Devil" - which begins with an annoying narrator introducing the plot, the star, and continuing for 10 minutes, 12 minutes, and I'm still not into the movie and he's still narrating the back-story and I just give up, it's nonsense...
So this was a treat. Adapting that novel for the screen - well, not an easy chore, but well done. A bit heavy on the CGI (not a fan of the CGI landscapes), but otherwise, acting, theme, atmosphere - all relatively close to the source and true to the author.
And since I had to go to great lengths to find a copy and working subtitles I've saved you the effort by uploading them to "WeShare"; a file hosting site, the links are good for about 27 days from today.
Link (Movie): https://we.tl/t-pLUNvolmVY
Link (Synced and working subs): https://we.tl/t-xKdG9NRzR9
Note, Woland is speaking in German to the Master, hence the annoying Russian Voiceover. And - Bulgakov wrote in the Russia of the 30's, but in regards to the political motifs the same is happening here...
Some pricey lingerie, and a fine first edition...
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Found
- Hits: 176
The morning in the thrift shop, as I suspected many people are clearing their curbs of the trash left over from the weekend's "TRASH TO TREASURE". So no end to unpacking rubbish and discouragement, that and it being month end, half-used tubes of toothpaste, bars of soap, bottles of scope, rusty razors, empty shampoo, I should be on the door turning these people away...
But - I find this:
Too good to leave behind, and nobody wants to price it for me...In the end, fifty cents.
The item appears new. Now - zoom into the new-price-tag in the bottom right corner. That's right, $1, 240.00.
Now to find the person I can best offend with this...there's not enough action in my world to require it, but somebody has to want it...given the number of Burlesque Dancers in town it shouldn't be a problem.
One other find, a fine copy of "The ascent of Everest" by John Hunt, 1954, First Edition and signed by the author. By donation. Doing a little research online I find another copy in similar condition, priced near enough to $900.00. Treasure, for sure, but the first treasure of the day made for a better picture...
News, April 23 2025
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Blog
- Hits: 236
Generally, not much. The boxes of trauma the boy so thoughtfully dropped off remain largely unpacked, amongst which there are 2 full boxes of rocks. Completely unnecessary.
The daughter visited over Easter, she's on her way to planting. Tom Yum Kung Soup with Coconut milk (more of a Tom Kha Kai), lunch, happy hour tacos(elevenses), Dinner, Steak, Mashed Potatoes, Asparagus, and she invited Lester over. I never have people over, for good reason, and look at the place now, it’s never been worse, but Lester sprawls on the floor like a champ and I - on a matter, several matters actually, of principal refused to clean for her arrival, she'd know it was a hoax, she's been there, and - bloody hell, this is on the daughter's say-so, why on earth would you invite anyone over to my place? I don't!!!!
For the daughter, lightening my load, a dozen books she'll have to summarize via ChatGPT - "Godel, Escher and Bach", "Lolita", "The Master and Margarita", "The Abortion", etc, etc. Dull, staid classics.
Facebook news, child saved by wolves in Minnesota, not news, yes, a child was lost, and then found in the wilds of Minnesota but wolves were not mentioned in all 3 of the articles I found. Too bad. It would have done them some good press. Fact check EVERYTHING you read on Facebook!!
And I started the Carolina Reaper seeds, pots on my windowsill, sunlight only allowed in by giving my daughter a stack of useless (???!!!) books and taking the rest to the one remaining used bookstore in Nelson.
6 weeks until they germinate and the temperature increases enough that I can move them outdoors.
The books I took to the bookstore, they rejected all the Blaise Cendrars that I rejected as well, "Hollywood", "Dan Yack", "Confessions of Dan Yack", others, I kept "The Astonished Man", more to my taste, the others I'd never return to. A shame, $20 USD to ship, $20 USD to buy, and not even a $1.00 CAN credit...
The 1000 Kikkoman Soy Sauce Lids arrived, the economy of fools, while Soy Sauce lids are in fact an in-demand item for Sushi & Chinese restaurants alike, not a single person has ordered some. Despite my discount pricing. SO I'm out $250. Not really pissed off so much as ... well, it'd be nice to recoup some of my investment...
I found the hard drive. My digital life over the past 20 odd years. Old bookmarks, files, “movies” that I’d missed, and wow - did I ever!!! My digital life, nice thing, you can encrypt it, not like finding old photos of ma and pa, or letters, this, to some extent, you can reduce a photo album, a genealogy, to a flash drive, to Google Storage, if you want to pay the rent...
Then there were the products listed on my facebook that reflect conversations I’ve had with Lester, the privacy-keeping microphone-blocking case for your phone, I had never seen such a thing, suggested it, and a few weeks later there it is, China, AI, Russia, they're all mining me for ideas…
And people, still connecting Michael, Faye (friend of Michaels, Cat Lady) - talking, about common interests, shared past experiences, with Michelle (Yoga, Nelsonite, drank all of the Kool-Aide and left nothing for me.) about film and books, The people you meet, that you're glad to see, while volunteering, or at work.
For the moment this is the news.
Threads - 1984
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Film
- Hits: 215
This, free on YouTube, a movie playing into the Nuclear Armageddon fears of the late 20th Century.
Not bad, and I lived in London just a couple of years after it was produced, so - while to me it looked dated (severely) - I was also there. So curious. A fair summary of what to expect following a Nuclear Holocaust, although I have to admire the British View that "Governance" of any sort would survive and take effect. Not bad, not great, merely a period film that taps into a lot of our unconscious social fears and conditionings.
It's still the endgame, but there are more imminent fears to boondoggle us...
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